By Jack Krost

War Comes to Oakhurst!

First in a Series

Pictures from National Archives and Library of Congress. Position mouse of picture for caption.

Mention Oakhurst these days, and you might think of pleasant evenings, lingering at one of our several cafes. A relaxed, peaceful, friendly community.
It wasn't always so. At one time, the area now known as Oakhurst was in the middle of a war zone. Troops feverishly dug trenches near the current Adams Street and Agnes Scott College as they chafed in their wool uniforms. Cavalry raiders swooped past the site of the Scottish Rite building to do battle. Soldiers strained to dig up the railroad line. And victorious troops marched down McDonough Street, belting out a song that would have grated on any Southerners seeing them stride by, "John Brown's Body."

Of course, we're talking about the Civil War. This begins a series of articles about the Civil War and how it affected this area. Read on to see how this region was drawn into the war and to find out about the fierce fighting that took place here and what happened afterward.

The battle for Atlanta and the surrounding area had profound political as well as military implications.

“For all its importance as a railroad junction, the fall of Atlanta was most significant for the boost it gave to Abraham Lincoln’s chances for reelection,” writes Civil War scholar Brooks D. Simpson, in an introduction to the memoirs of Union General Jacob D. Cox, who fought in the battle.

When word came of Atlanta’s fall, Cox says, “Republicans roared in celebration, pointing to the news as the best reply to Democratic charges that the war was a failure.”

THE ROAD TO WAR

It had been a long road for people of DeKalb County, who were not enthusiastic about the prospect of seceding from the Union, years earlier. There were no big plantations here, and most DeKalb families owned few, if any slaves. When the state legislature called a special session in January 1861 to consider the issue, the two delegates elected from the county opposed secession. But, of course, they were outvoted, and Georgia joined the Confederacy. It wasn't long before young men went off to war. The first unit to go, according to author Caroline McKinney Clarke, was the DeKalb Light Infantry. She writes in “The Story of Decatur 1823-1899” that they wore uniforms that were sewn by women who gathered at "Mason's Corner," at the corner of what's now East Ponce de Leon Avenue and Clairmont Street.

For much of the war, fighting took place farther north. There was, however, a steady stream of wounded Confederate soldiers who made their way back to makeshift hospitals in this area. But by the war's third year, the Union was tightening its grip on the South, and the battles were moving south as well. By early 1864, the Union had won victories at Gettysburg, Vicksburg and Chattanooga, and it controlled the entire Mississippi and had sealed off nearly all southern ports. But the South still hoped to draw out the war and win independence in a negotiated peace from war-weary northerners.

The man picked by General Ulysses S. Grant to take on the Deep South, was General William Tecumseh Sherman, a name that still inspires hisses in parts of the South. After wintering in Tennessee, on May 7, 1864 Sherman began his relentless march to the sea. He sought to divide the South and destroy as much of its economy as possible, under the so-called “Anaconda Plan.” And he proved stunningly successful on both counts, as his troops left burned farms and destroyed railroads in their wake under a scorched earth drive across the South.

APPROACH TO ATLANTA

Sherman commanded some 110,000 men. Facing him were just 54,500 troops under Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston. You might think that with such uneven odds, Johnston was doomed. But the wily Johnston managed to stave off the inevitable for months, as he pursued a defensive strategy, entrenching on mountains and ridges and inviting battle only when conditions were in his favor. But time and again, Sherman forced Johnston to retreat through flanking maneuvers, in a 107-mile push to Atlanta. During an extended campaign of maneuver, battles were fought at Resaca, New Hope Church and Pickett's Mill, as the Union troops moved south and east, generally following the railroad line from Chattanooga to Atlanta

In one of their last stands before Atlanta, the Confederates held off Union troops for 25 days at Mount Kennesaw and two other mountains that June. Against his better judgment, Sherman tried a direct assault against the rebels, with one main force against the center of Confederate lines and a smaller force to the right. He lost 2,000 men. But the next day, Sherman again moved to flank the Confederates, and Johnston withdrew.

Where did the fighting in the Oakhurst area take place? Was it near your house? Read our next installment to find out.